Oluwole Ige, Osogbo
OSUN State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, on Friday in Osogbo, said the earlier the country do away with presidential system of government, the better it would be for the nation.
He lamented with the capital intensive nature of funding presidential system of governance, the country may be heading towards unsafe destination, declaring that “If we don’t do away with presidential system, we would end in a big mess. What is the use of having a president, governors and the governor would appoint Commissioners, we are all deceiving ourselves”.
Speaking at a one-day conference on the second anniversary of the South West in national governance titled “South West To Abuja: A Mid-Term Appraisal, Aregbesola this is the first time we would have a say at the federal level. There is crucial need for us to go back to regional system”.
According to him, “provincial head in Ghana are not called governors. In Egypt, they usually hold two elections. Democracy does not say we should forget our traditional routes. We have missed our way through military dictatorship. Our forefathers spent about three years to brainstorm about how would be governed in Britain.
Aregbesola said “In India, we have a state that is bigger in size and population more than Nigeria. There is also a state of Bujarat, which is not bigger than Lagos. It is also a state. Nobody can lord it over. Anywhere there is regional system would witness healthy social and economic development”.
“We have to find out if presidential system would pay us or not. If we had been practicing parliamentary system, there would not be local government at all. The party would influence, whoever goes to the parliament. If we don’t do away with presidential system, we would end in a big mess. What is the use of having a president, governors and the governor would appoint Commissioners, we are all deceiving ourselves.
During my short rest in Saudi Arabia recently, I realised that we don’t even realise the meaning of money. We spent cowries as native currencies in olden days”. Aregbesola remarked.